What was the reason for yay’s departure from Cloud9 VALORANT roster?

After several days of rumors, Cloud9 announced the departure of Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker from its VALORANT lineup. Unfortunately, this change comes before the start of the VCT Americas, so the organization needs to find an ideal replacement as soon as possible.

In announcing the departure of the world’s best VALORANT player, Cloud9 refers to role problems in the lineup. However, it is incredibly complicated to think that the best player in the world has no space in a squad.

That is why many community members, including active and retired players, have commented on the situation and have stated that the role problem may not be the main reason for yay’s departure from Cloud9.

Cloud9 parts ways with yay, citing “role issues” among players

As we mentioned, Cloud9 announced through a video that team owner Jack Etienne and the team’s Head Coach Matthew “mCe” Elmore claimed that the team had been having role problems even before yay’s arrival. That is why it was best for both parties to agree on the separation.

yay’s journey at Cloud9 has not been as the player would have dreamed. The 2022 World’s Best Player of 2022 arrived at the organization in October 2022, representing one of VALORANT’s biggest signings on the international pro scene. However, four months later, having only played a couple of official matches with the team, the organization decided to release him due to “role issues.”

Now, hours after the announcement, the player posted on his Twitter account the following message:

“officially a unrestricted F/A.

Role issues were definitely the reason for me departing and the team/coach definitely agreed with me being removed.

Will address it further in a video or stream

– yay (@yay) March 1, 2023”

It should be noted that the player deleted this message hours later, so it is no longer available. However, many in the community think that Jay’s message is sarcastic, as the player has shown that personality several times in different interviews and content.

Controversy over the response in a Tweet

Many community members responded in disbelief to this Tweet, mentioning that this was not the main reason for his departure from C9. But, yay’s former teammate at OpTic, Austin “crashies” Roberts, wrote a Tweet saying:

“They did you dirty, head up brotha 🐐.”

To which yay immediately responded with a meme that speaks for itself:

On the other hand, a VALORANT caster and analyst highly regarded by the community, Ballatw said:

“You don’t bench the best player in the world from the year prior because of role issues, and you certainly don’t DROP them entirely by letting them become unrestricted F/A. Somebody really really really dropped the ball and screwed up here.”

And besides the responses to Ballatw’s Tweet, where virtually everyone agrees with him, the situation is somewhat logical. If you have the best player in the world (yay) in your ranks, there’s no way you can’t make him fit any role in the game.

As one of the highest-paid players on the VALORANT professional circuit, there is speculation that this squeeze may result from financial difficulties. So, the organization would prefer to release him rather than send him to the bench to avoid covering with his high salary. Moreover, yay’s buyout price would be practically unaffordable by other teams.

Role problems in C9

Likewise, this does not rule out the fact that within Cloud9, there are indeed role issues. That’s why we’ve seen so many lineup moves, and even both Jordan “Zellsis” Montemurro and Erick “Xeppaa” Bach have very similar roles.

Knowing yay, it is very likely that the player will soon tell the real reasons for his departure from C9. Either confirming the above or explaining the reasons that, according to him, forced his release from the North American organization.

Header: Colin Young-Wolff | Riot Games